48 Hours
by Kylie Anderson
Summary: The team has 48 hours to find a young girl. Will they be able to race against the clock and find her in time?


48 Hours

((-))

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

The first 48 hours are critical when a child goes missing. It's in that 48 hour window that children have the best time of still being alive. After those 48 hours, hope begins to fade and many times, they're pulling the body out of the Hudson the next day. 48 hours…a critical time frame.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

((-))

**1 Hour Missing **

Jack Malone sighed as he made his way towards the house of Emily Sanders. She was a seven year old girl who had been kidnapped right in front of her mother's eyes as she waited for the school bus. Jack knew the first 48 hours were critical, but he knew that the first hour was the most precious. During the first hour, leads are never ending, but by the 24th hour, you can hardly ever find a lead.

Danny Taylor walked up to Jack. "Emily was waiting for the school bus while her mother kept an eye on her inside. A black van drives up to Emily; one man comes out and snatches her. By the time the mother gets outside, she's gone." Danny reported.

"Parents?" Jack asked as he kept walking towards the house.

Danny looked down at his notebook. "The mother is Lisa Sanders. She's a sales clerk. She doesn't appear to have any enemies. The father is Roger and he's an accountant. I doubt that they were the cause of the kidnapping." Danny said looking up at Jack.

Jack nodded as he walked through the front door. Danny turned back around to see Sam there. "I think we should have Vivian check the sex offenders in the area." Danny muttered to Sam.

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yeah," Sam said looking at the large house. "I call her."

Danny couldn't help but looking at his watch.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

((-))

**Two Hours Missing**

Vivian sighed as Martin handed her a cup of coffee. "Anything?" Martin asked Vivian.

"No." Vivian said quietly. "Every single sex offender in a ten mile radius has a solid alibi. Some were in a bar with a hundred other witnesses, others were at work and some were even in jail. Needless to say, they're all cleared."

Martin shook his head. "I got nothing here either. The mother and father don't have any complaints, they're not in any financial trouble. It's like they're the prefect family." Martin said sitting down at his desk.

"There's no such thing as a prefect family." Vivian commented before typing away again.

((-))

Jack walked in to the Sanders's living room to find Lisa and Roger Sanders holding each other tightly as Lisa was sobbing. "Excuse me, Mrs. Sanders?" Jack asked quietly as he approached her. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

Lisa jumped up. "I already told a million other people what happened!" Lisa shrieked. "It's my fault, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I wasn't pay close enough attention to her and I'm not a damn track runner! I couldn't get to her in time! I couldn't save my baby…"

At that point Lisa collapsed back into her husband's arms sobbing. "Mrs. Sanders, it's not your fault. You couldn't do anything." Jack said quietly. "Now, I know this is hard, but did you notice anyone looking at Emily oddly? At school? On the street?"

Roger shook his head while his wife continued to cry. "I...I didn't notice anything of that sort." Roger said clearing his throat. "Nothing was out of the ordinary."

"Did you or your wife have any problems with anyone?" Jack asked.

Roger shook his head again. "No." He answered.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**Three Hours Missing**

No leads. Those were the two words floating around in Jack's head. They didn't have any leads as they began to approach the third hour. No leads. All they had was a missing girl…and no leads.

Sam began to talk to all of the neighbors in the surrounding areas. They didn't even know who the Sanders were. She began to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach, but then began talking to all of the people near Emily's school.

((-))

Danny and Martin began talking to some of the seven year olds in Emily's school. They hoped maybe someone noticed something, but then again, they were still kids. Danny sat in front of one boy. "Do you know Emily?" Danny asked.

The boy nodded. "Yep. Emily stole my crayon the other day." The boy answered as he colored in a teddy bear.

Danny and Martin exchanged smiles. "Did you notice if anyone was looking at Emily on the playground?" Danny asked.

The boy nodded. "A guy. He's old like you." The boy answered.

Martin found it funny that the boy thought Danny was old, but was also concerned. "What did the guy look like?" Danny asked.

"Brown hair," The boy answered smiling as he held up the drawing. "Isn't it good?"

Danny and Martin smiled. "Yes, it's very nice." Martin said before getting up.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**Six Hours Missing**

Jack stormed around the FBI. His people had been trying to figure out who this guy was for three hours! "What in the hell is taking you so long?" He growled at Sam.

"Hey! All we got out of the kid was the man was old like Danny and had brown hair! We're trying to canvas the area to see if anyone else saw this guy hanging around, but so far, we don't have anything! For all we know, you could have kidnapped her!" Sam shouted standing up.

Jack backed off, but didn't apologize. "It's been three hours." Jack stated calmly.

"We're trying our hardest." Sam muttered.

"Well try harder!" Jack shouted before spinning on his heel.

Martin, Danny and Vivian were all simply staring at Sam. She sat back down and began to work again.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**15 Hours Missing**

They had all been working on very limited hours of sleep. Martin found himself dozing off every five minutes. It had been fifteen hours and still they had no leads. Every lead they had, lead to another dead end. They were all tired, hungry and restless.

Danny was the only one who appeared to be alert. He sat at his desk vigorously working while Martin doze, Sam yawned and Vivian drank her coffee like there was no tomorrow. Jack looked at all of them. They couldn't keep working for much longer. "Okay, it's time to go home." Jack said firmly.

Sam, Martin and Vivian sleepily grabbed their coats, but Danny didn't move away from his computer. "That means you too Danny," Jack said yawning.

Danny shook his head. "The first 48 hours are critical and if we sleep, we're wasting eight of them." Danny said still typing away.

"Yes, but if you collapse due to lack of sleep, you will waste more time when we have to call the ambulance…" Jack began.

Danny sighed as he grabbed his coat. He didn't feel like being lectured. He simply looked at the clock.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**24** **Hours Missing**

Danny was already working by the time Jack entered the FBI building early in the morning. "Did you go home?" Jack asked.

Danny gave a slight nod. "How long did you sleep?" Jack pressed.

"I tried to sleep for four hours, but I couldn't, so I came here." Danny answered.

"So you didn't sleep?" Jack asked with a sigh.

Danny shook his head. "No, I guess I didn't." Danny answered.

Jack sighed. "So what did you find out?" Jack asked.

"I checked all the black vans in a fifty mile radius." Danny replied.

Jack looked impressed. "All by yourself?" Jack asked.

Danny nodded. "It took hours." Danny replied. "But I found out that several of those owners have criminal records."

Jack nodded. "You know, this girl might be like Elizabeth Smart and be held captive for nine months." Jack said attempting to comfort Danny.

"The Elizabeth Smart case was one that probably won't ever happen again. Some kids make it past 48 hours, but most don't." Danny answered before turning back to his computer.

Jack sighed as Vivian, Martin and Sam walked back in. Danny was right. Time was running out.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**36 Hours Missing **

No ransom demand. That's what struck Vivian as odd. When she mentioned it to Martin, he agreed. "Yeah," Martin said hollowly. "Maybe he's not making one because she's already dead…"

Vivian shook her head. "We can't think that way. We still have twelve hours left." Vivian said.

((-))

Sam helped Danny track down all of his leads. That was something everyone admired about Danny. He wasn't going to give up just because something was difficult. He was just going to try harder.

But they were running out of time. It was so hard to race against a clock. Each time they seemed so close to finding something out, they found it was a dead end.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

**48 Hours Missing **

Danny knew it had been 48 hours, but he couldn't give up yet. Sam felt the same way as did Martin, Vivian and Jack. They still had one thing, hope. It was all they needed to pray that Emily was still alive.

However, the hope faded as they reached the middle of the 48th hour until Martin shouted something about finding her. Sam smiled. Jack's heart fluttered. Danny and Vivian grinned. The smiles subdued when Martin told them they found a fragile seven year old body in the middle of a dark New York alley.

Jack simple put his head down in defeat. Time had eluded him…again.

((-))

Tick…

Tock…

_**Too late.**_

Tick…

Tock…

_**Couldn't save her. **_

Tick…

Tock…

_**You were too late again, Malone. **_

Tick…

Tock…

Tick...tock.

_**Time's up. **_

**The End **

Disclaimer: I do not own Without a Trace.

A/N- I hope you enjoyed this story. Please do note that the first 48 hours are critical to any child. If you witness a kidnapping, please report it to the police immediately. You could save a young life. If you liked this story, feel free to check out my other stories. Thank you.

Kylie Anderson


End file.
